Not much of a psst! when the cap was cracked off, pours a thin white lace and the last 1/4 of the beer was swirled in the bottle and the yeast was poured into the glass to show a cloudy beige golden color. A little spicy and nutty in the aroma from the yeast, fruitiness ranges from apple skin to a faint ripe banana. Smooth and semi-slick medium body, bread wheat runs a little dry. Quick kiss of fermented honey with a mild hopping in back. Fruity spicy mix from start to finish show a light clove flavor and mild tropical fruit. Finishes dry.

Not half bad, it sits in the middle of the pack when you look at all that is available both domestic and imported. Worth a try if you are into wheat beers.

Appears a bright golden milky cloudy what brew iwth a bright white head forming thick with large bubbled carbonation even lacing sticks to the glass with each sip.

Aroma has citrus peels with chalky yeast notes and a touch of honey in the nose, very creamy with a sharp wheat character slighly spiced with an air of lavender wild herbs.

Flavor has some fruit from the esters provided by the yeast notes, a touch of chalky creamy accents and sharp citrus with a mellow banana character barely touching ground. Evidently a hybrid of the German/American wheat beer traditions.

Mouthfeel is medium to light bodied with a touch of some mild syrupy effects from the honey addition sitting in the background. Carbonation is lively on par with most of the other wheat beers out there.

Drinkability is solid a decent warm weather beer perfect for people open to different beer, I would guess this does rather well in the Georgia climate, definitely a nice experience.

For the most part, I don't care for the hefeweizen style, and this beer is no exception. To a good extent, I've tried to allow for that in this review, largely comparing this beer against other hefeweizens.

A: Typical for style: clear golden with a short-lived white head that leaves a dash of lace.

S: Rather floral and fruity (banana), but primarily wheat.

T: Again, typical for style, but with a bit more sweetness and fruitiness.

M: light body, as expected

O: not enjoyable, although I am sure I'd be happy to have another if I was very thirsty on a hot summer day.

First had on draft at 909 in Fredericksburg, Virginia; appropriately enough, a partly Grateful Dead themed bar. Loved it there so I grabbed some bottles to drink and review.

Pours a very hazy, but bright golden yellow. Almost looks like honey in appearance. Not a lot of carbonation going on, but still yields about a finger's worth of white head. Poor retention and very little lacing, leaving only a faint ring as the foam quickly dissipates. Disappointingly, this one is lacking what is essential to a serious Hefe, a massive and voluptuously frothy head.

Nose is full of wheat, banana, clove, bubblegum, and faint honey. For a beer whose label proclaims honey as its differentiator, I was hoping it would be much more in my face. Still a decent aroma however.

Tastes as the preceding aromas would suggest. Lots of upfront Hefe flavors, particularly a incredibly strong banana presence. Honey is noticeable as well, contributing a bit more mild sweetness in the middle, before it finishes off nice and biscuity. Overall, it almost reminds me of a banana pancake. Pretty good stuff.

Mouthfeel is a bit of a let down. A little too light bodied for what I like to see in the style. Needs more carbonation and creaminess to accompany the taste.

Overall, this is a pretty decent offering. The flavors are right on and quite delicious, but some more carbonation and a creamier body would take this to the upper tier of Hefes.

Got this on-tap at Trappeze after not being able to get it at either the brewery or Trappeze the day before. I was really glad to get a chance to try this so fresh.

Pours a cloudy lemon color with a half-finger white head that dissipates quickly into a wispy layer and a thin ring around the glass. Eventually the head disappears completely and there are a few bubbles clinging to the side of the glass. Almost no lacing.

Smells good. Big bubblegum, banana, and clove aromas.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Sweet and fruity up front, then crossing over into a mild spiciness before reverting back to sweetness at the end of the sip. There's a very slight light fruit aftertaste that leaves me wanting more.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a very good thickness for a Hefeweizen (or whatever it is), however the carbonation is a bit too heavy in the beginning, but as it warms it evens out a bit.

Drinkability is good. It went down easily enough, but I didn't really want to order another one.

Overall this is an interesting beer that's been tacked on to Terrapin's repertoire. I won't be snapping this one up like I have BHM and others, but it's certainly worth a shot.

Last gasp of summer, but my first taste of Terrapin.Cloudy pale yellow, not much head to speak of. Getting banana and clove on the nose right off. Fairly typical array of flavors for a wheat beer: banana, clove, but an extra spiciness as well. I thought the honey might add more sweetness, and it does give some, but it just didn't mesh with the other flavors for me.I think I'm just not a fan of honey in my beer, it just throws me off. Maybe my next Terrapin will be better.

Received as an extra from AdamBear, thanks!! Drank 2 months prior to the "enjoy by" date on the bottle.

A: hazy opaque, and very full orange/yellow honey color. wild head that fizzes like crazy, then immediately dissipates leaving the beer looking flat and lifeless in the glass. (retains a slight ring around the edge and leaves a limp lace that quickly slides back down into the beer)

S: A lot of citrus, wheat, and sweet honey. Smells pretty rich and summery. Honestly I probably wouldn't have mentioned honey if the bottle didn't mention it. (It's very subtle)

T: Someone else mentioned bubblegum and bananas. That's perfect. Plus of course the same smells mentioned above. The problem is that the taste is not as rich or strong as the smell would suggest. Tastes almost watered down to me. It does leave a pleasant "banana bread" aftertaste that lingers for quite a while.

M: As it looks, it feels flat in the mouth.

O: Not a bad beer, but not a standout either. I probably wouldn't recommend this or drink it again as there are many better summer wheat beers out there. And what's supposed to be unique about this ("brewed with honey") doesn't really add much complexity or even stand out as being very noticeable in this beer. I would drink this ice cold on a hot summer day before I'd touch a BMC hands down though!!

looks good. cloudy golden-orange with a greenish neon tint. nice. laces and fluffs up then it all slides down. fast.

there are other wheat beers that just do all this yeasty/banana stuff. whatever this type is, i just don't like it. i like the 'banana' ester notes in the upper shelf jack daniels whiskies...but not here. don't care for much of anything about it. the only thing that makes me stomach these is IF i happen to have a big bar of dark chocolate on hand...

i am sure it's decent to most Hefe-fans, but i can't finish this. well, i'll hold my nose and extract the alcohol...what little is there.

Terrapin's SunRay Wheat Beer is made with Tupelo honey, and you can smell it in the aroma and taste it in the flavor.

Upon pouring it appears like most any other golden beer, with a clear yellow gold body and streams of steadily rising bubbles beneath a short cap of bright white foam. It's a good looking glass of beer, but unfortunately the head retention is limited, and it leaves very little lacing behind.

The aroma, however, displays something unusual. It's fragrant... sweet and floral, with just the tiniest edge of earthiness. There's sweet malt there, for sure, and it has a wheaty note as well, but the honey is also noticeable. As it warms, soft clove and a mild hint of banana emerge, adding to its bouquet. Very nice.

In the mouth it's pretty standard again, with a light body (although it does have a dextrinous edge) and a crisp carbonation. Not that that's a bad thing - I think it fits perfectly!

The flavor is lightly tart and gently lemony at the outset, but it quickly warms to reveal wheat and honey across the middle, and then some sweetish grainy malt, floral hops and clove in the long-lingering finish.

Quite nice! It's a refreshing summer-quencher that balances between subtly tart and roundly sweet, and the honey adds just a tiny dollop of unique character that makes it interesting and memorable. Worth trying!

Poured from the 12oz bottle into a pint glass. Body is a light straw color with a significant amount of haze. A brief flourish of creamy white head is gone in an instant, but the lively carbonation keeps coming up the glass. Aroma of light wheat and very pale malt, along with some banana and clove esters. Palate is clean and lightly tart up front, with a mild citrusy sweetness towards the finish. Notes of banana and clove are also present. Body is light and a touch creamy, just short of bubbly. A light, crisp, drinkable wheat ale, but I think I'll stick to the more traditional, German-style wheat beers this summer.

After touring Terrapin's brewery in Athens, I figured I had to pick up at least one of their beers. Because I am a hefeweizen kind of guy, SunRay stood out as a good option.

Appearance: Poured from a 12-ounce bottle into my half-liter weizen glass, SunRay looks like a slightly watery, light golden wheat beer. Since I agitated and poured the yeasty sediment into the glass, it's hazy and only semi-translucent, but there's not much character to its color and body. Of note, it was difficult to raise much head when pouring, which is a red flag when it comes to wheat beers. Ultimately, a one-finger head recedes almost immediately, leaving only the faintest film atop the beer.

Smell: Not bad, not great. I think I smell a hint of honey, married to a low-grade wheaty twang. There's an intriguing, faint sweetness to the smell that suggests vanilla ice cream...but it's pretty distant. Overall, the aroma of this beer is unoffensive, but not distinctive.

Taste: Tolerable, and very mild. I wish this beer's flavor was simply magnified -- I think what's there is decent, but it's just not THERE enough to know for sure. Frankly, it tastes a bit like a more complete beer that's been cut with water. I pick up a hint of fermented honey, carried by a moderate amount of fermented wheat. The yeasty flavor I expected was not prominent enough for my taste, and that faint vanilla hint in the nose isn't really there at all. Also absent: any hint of malty sweetness or hoppy bitterness. Both these things are just totally missing on the palate, and it's noticeable. The lingering flavor is of watered-down, fermented wheat.

Mouthfeel: This is clearly the beer's weakest point. The carbonation is not strong enough to give the beer enough body to carry its muted flavors. As a result, it feels watery and weak. Come to think of it, this may account for a lot of what's missing from the flavor -- with most wheat beers, flaws can be masked by ample carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. This one doesn't have enough body to conceal its problems.

Drinkability: I'm fairly certain that this is where SunRay could redeem itself on a hot summer day. Given the pervasive theme of "wateriness," I believe that if I was out swimming, mowing the lawn, running, boating, or otherwise working up a good thirst, this beer would satiate that thirst beautifully, especially if served very cold. On the other hand, I could refresh myself with a Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier, a Weihenstephaner Vitus, or any number of other wheat beers with more depth and character.

Overall, I feel like this beer is a work in progress, and maybe the guys at Terrapin can work on intensifying the flavor and carbonation before summer 2010. At present, they've got this and Gamma Ray. Unfortunately, SunRay is underwhelming for the reasons described here, while I find Gamma Ray to be a bit OVERwhelming. If Terrapin can get these two beers to meet in the middle, I think they'll be on to something special.